The Flanagan Fire ignited in Shasta County north of Redding on March 4.

LATEST March 5, 8 a.m. The Flanagan Fire in Shasta County is holding at 40 acres and is now 50% contained, Cal Fire announced Saturday morning.

March 4, 7:15 p.m. The Flanagan Fire in Shasta County is 40 acres and 20% contained, Cal Fire said Friday night.

March 4, 4:45 p.m. High winds whipped up a wildfire in Shasta County on Thursday, triggering extreme fire behavior that experts said is unusual for March in California.

The Flanagan Fire burning south of Shasta Lake pumped out a massive cloud of smoke and triggered mandatory evacuations.

“These days, nothing is very typical,” Cal Fire spokesperson Jas Shaw said. “We are definitely having longer fire seasons. That’s what we have seen in the last few years.”

It is remarkable that these kind of fire conditions are being observed in early March in far Northern California (Shasta County)--typically the wettest time of year in one of the wettest parts of the state. #CAwx #CAfire https://t.co/QNP0trDu6k

The fire ignited near Flanagan Road and Beltline Road, west of Shasta Lake, and was 30 acres as of 4 p.m., Cal Fire said.

An image on social media showed crews protecting a home, and a video showed firefighters walking through swirling smoke. The Red Cross announced that it is opening an evacuation shelter at Central Valley High School in Shasta Lake.

“It is remarkable that these kind of fire conditions are being observed in early March in far Northern California (Shasta County) — typically the wettest time of year in one of the wettest parts of the state,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain wrote on Twitter.

The Flanagan Fire ignited in Shasta County north of Redding on March 4.

Winds up to 30 mph fanned flames Friday afternoon, but the gusty conditions are expected to calm overnight, and light rain is possible, the National Weather Service said. 

“Hopefully, those conditions will improve tonight,” weather service meteorologist Craig Shoemaker said. “There could be some pretty good fire activity today and into early evening. There’s a lot of dead trees and dead fuel up there.” 

A storm system was passing over California on Friday, and Shoemaker said some rain could fall over the fire, though it would likely be extremely light. 

Shoemaker said the weather service office in Sacramento was watching the smoke and noted that it was likely being caused by the fire eating up the dead trees and dry vegetation. 

As of 4 p.m. Friday, there were 15 engines, five crews and four water tenders assigned to the blaze, Cal Fire said. 

Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. She was born and raised in the Bay Area and got her start in news at the Daily Californian newspaper at UC Berkeley where she majored in English literature. She has been with SFGATE for more than 10 years. You can email her at agraff@sfgate.com.